WITCH: The Heart of Earth
by NadeshikoLove1224
Summary: Ten years have pass since the guardians of Kandrakar have defeat Nerissa. Lilith Hale is experiencing new powers and has unknowingly giving Christopher Lair, the class clown of Sheffield high, the task of becoming her knight. (Under Construction)
1. Chapter 1: Introduction

**W.I.T.C.H: The Heart of Earth Chapter 1**

**Introduction:** Ten years have pass since the guardians of Kandrakar have defeat Nerissa. Lilith Hale is experiencing new powers and has unknowingly giving Christopher Lair, the class clown of Sheffield high, the task of becoming her knight.

* * *

Irma hates visiting her parents for one reason, her brother Christopher. He hasn't change at all since he's seven and still does stuff a pea brain will do. On weekly basics, he prank calls her from college and gives his number to his other friends to do the same. During vacations, he puts rotten stuff in her room, steals her underwear and puts them on the roof and gives her wet willies when she lets her guard down. He's the rebirth of Uriah; much worst that him because she has to live with Chris until she finally moves out. Christmas break is just for a couple weeks, and then she'll go back to her dorm in college, meet up hot guys and study. Irma's mother tells her to wake up Chris from his deep slumber, "Mom, his room is cave people territory."

"Irma, be good to your brother and wake him up. Besides, I don't want him to get use to sleeping late." Chris has overslept during school days and waking up thirty minutes after school starts, so his mother makes sure that he wakes up early throughout Christmas break so he can wake up on time when school starts.

Irma heads up stairs and stands next to the door. She puts her ear on the door to hear any movement inside, but quickly retracts her head back when her nose picks up a moldy smell seeping through the cracks of the door. She pounds the door, yelling for her brother to wake up. When that didn't work, she forces herself inside the disgusting room fill to the brim with dirty clothes, posters of racy women and cars & empty pizza boxes. Irma pulls the covers off her brother uncovering the image of the "man" behind the sheets: greasy brown shoulder length hair, red and black plaid shirt with brown slouchy pants (the same outfit he wears the day before) and his muddy, worn out converse sneakers still on. Irma slaps him hard enough on the back for him to twitch. "Wake up, loser!"

"Ir-me, with age the development of bitterness follows." He turns his sister. "You found a guy yet?"

"Shut up!" Irma snorts. "Mom wants you downstairs, now!"

Not even wanting to continue the argument with his big sister he goes down the stairs, unaware that he's wearing the same outfit from yesterday after partying hard with his friends. Mrs. Lair yells at him and throws a plastic spoon at him. "Go and take a shower!" She digs through the kitchen drawer for an extra pair. "You better be out in ten minutes or else I'll drag you out of there!" Irma's mother goes on complaining that he's wearing shoes in the house, hangs out with stupid people and that he's stupid himself. Irma stands and drinks her hot coco in silence, smiling while her mother complains until Chris comes down stairs in a green long sleeve, black baggy skinny jeans and black boots. His hair is still a mess, but at least it is clean. He picks up the spoon from the ground, then towers over Irma and gives her a wet wily.

"You idiot," She yells. The shock of the wet filth rushing in her right ear leads her to splash hot coco on her top. She grunts, slams her mug down on the counter and heads up stairs to change. Chris goes to the kitchen table and lays his head down, complaining that he's sleepy.

"Sleepy because you have sneaked out every night." Chris looks at his mother. "Yes, I know what you're doing and you need to stop. You started out you freshmen year good until you have hung out with those friends of yours. That's why you are going out to the mall with Irma today to meet Cornelia and her sister Lillian."

"You want me to hang out with her two days before Christmas, Lillian the loser?"

"You two were very close during freshmen year and she helped you get good grades at the time. You can do some Christmas shopping too."

"Mom," Chris picks up his head, "She is WEIRD! You really need to know this girl. She still believes in stupid fairy tales."

"She has a very creative imagination." Mrs. Lair gets strict. "And if you don't go, you punishment will be shoveling the snow from every yard off this street! I'll clean your room if you do one or the other, it looks and smells horrible."

"Harsh," Chris whispers. "Can you give me extra pancakes?"

"Keep up with the extras and we will have an extra pot belly in the house." Mrs. Lair taps her daughter, referring to her father. Chris and Irma taunt each other until their mother stops them and makes them leave without breakfast.

"And these shoes are so cute!" Corny says, showing it to Lillian, who doesn't care less. Corny loves that her sister is growing up. Her birthday is in two days a she wants her to get something fantastic, well in Corny's eyes. As she checks through the boots in the shoe section, Lillian keeps her head into her fantasy book. Her gentle blond hair kiss the pages of her novel, her out grown bangs getting in the way of reading. Corny scans her sister outfit. "A pink sweater with long tan denim skirt and brown boots, Lillian you look so, middle school!"

"So?" Lillian looks up and sees Irma and her brother Chris together. "Oh great," She whispers.

* * *

"Irma," Corny yells. Her excitement fades when she sees his face. "With your brother; how are you?" The Uriah rebirth, Corny thinks.

"Hey Cornelia, the early bird gets the five-minute sale." Chris "charmingly" tries to kiss her hand but she snaps it away from him, telling him little boys doesn't amuse her. Chris looks at Lillian, "So you birthday is on Christmas Eve, like two days away right?" He asks sounding as falsely polite as possible.

"So you remember," Lillian says, she goes back into reading her book. Irma ends the tension when she drags the gang to get something to eat. After a while, Irma distances herself away from her brother to talk to Corny and Cornelia does the same to Lillian. "How's Lillian?"

"The Oracle told me that her powers would come back slowly the better she becomes. The only thing now is that who will protect her? She has her cat, but Matt has a live and Mr. Huggles 'had' one."

"Let's give a moment of silence to the cutest mouse in the world," Irma and Corny bow their heads down for at least 10 seconds, and then get back up. "What if your brother…?"

"She will have more protection with a broom! Besides they hate each other."

"I wish I can go guardian on command and protect her," She looks over at her unsuspecting sister, "but I have a life."

Irma looks at her brother and Corny's sister. "Let's give them some time alone." Irma tells them that she and Corny are going on a bathroom run and they need them to watch their stuff until they come back. The two then leave their siblings without letting the younger get a say in their elders leave.

Chris looks over at Lillian. He is so sick of her reading all those fantasy novels about witches and princesses. He hates being with her because of that and wishes he's hanging with his friends. His wish comes when he is hit in the head with a hamburger wrapper. "What the,"

"Hey Chris," He sees one of his friends from a distance and yells back at him. He sees Chris with Lillian and starts to snicker. "When do you still hang out with the loser?"

"My sister loan me off with her and her crap to go potty!" He looks over at Lillian. "Besides, the only girl I'm interested in his her sister!"

"Hey Lillian, do you still think you a princess?" Chris and his friend begin laugh. "It's SO ODD that you have NO FRIENDS!"

"Christopher, you will always be a punk and a loser. Just like that idiot you call a friend." Lillian walks away from the two into a private area in the mall.

Corny and Irma come back immediately, giving Chris a hard time after seeing how he hurt her. His friend sneaks away. Irma orders Chris to find Lillian and apologize to her. He grunts and follows the direction Lillian last went.

* * *

"I hate him so much." Lillian says to herself. Alone, he's nice enough to her but with his friends he's insulting and stupid. She looks around and notices he's in the parking lot and goes back to open the door, but it is lock from her side. She puts her book in her shoulder bag and tries to find another exit. She feels fine until she sees the lights dim until they are all completely out, and then she gets frighten. A hand touches her shoulder and she jumps up and screams.

"Lillian, it's me Chris." Lillian relaxes, but she's still angry at him. Chris can see the anger in her face however he continues to play dumb, "Where are you going?"

"The door's locked from this side…"

"No it isn't," Chris opens the door. The lights turn back on. "Listen, I'm sorry about what it said. I was thinking about something that pissed me off. I'm not just apologizing only because my sister tells me to, but I do feel really bad about what I said."

"Do you? "Lillian pushes him and goes to the door. "The next thing you'll do is tell your friends something different. Chris, don't put up a fake personality with me. I don't care who you follow, just don't be a hypocrite to me."

Lillian takes a hold of the door, but a strong force shuts the door close. A cold breeze brushes pass her neck. She hears a deep, quiet voice saying words in a language she can't interpret. Lillian gets closer to Chris. The lights flicker until they burst, then a purple light illuminates from the far end of the parking lot and hard, heavy footsteps comes close to them. Chris tries to open the door, but it is jam shut. "Open,"

"**Your efforts are useless**…." A deep voice is voice across the lot and the footsteps stop. Lillian sees the silhouette of something in the shadows. It looks like a person wearing a long cape, but when they stretch their arms out, bat wings are shown. "**The Heart of Earth is Lillian Hale! Your powers are ripe for the taking**." The creatures face is hideous. It looks at Chris, then at Lillian. "**Your guardians aren't here! But he can still be one**!" Lillian and Chris begin to run, but the monster is too fast. He jumps up at Chris, slams him to the ground and tries to claw his face out. "**I must have Lillian to myself**!"

"Stop it!" A wave from Lillian's body bounces both the creature and Chris away in different directions. Lilith heads to Chris and tries to wake him up. The creature gets back up and flies to her, but it is stop by a thin barrier. Lillian is shaking, the barrier will break soon, Chris is unconscious and the fantasy she's wishing for is trying to kill her. All she can think of doing is hold Chris's hands. "Cornelia, Irma," She whispers. "Dad, Mom," She looks at Chris, his eyes starting to open. "Chris…." She stars to cry. Her hands glow and the glow transfers to his hand and throughout his body. The light blinds the creature and prevents it from breaking the shield even further. Lillian steps away from Chris until the light disperses, then she slowly gets closer to him, but he is hardly recognizable. "Chris?" She says.


	2. Chapter 2: The Birth of a Guardian

**W.I.T.C.H: The Heart of Earth Chapter 2**

**The Birth of a Guardian:** Chris becomes Lillian's second guardian and defeats the monster. Irma and Cornelia make plans to see the Oracle with Hay-Lin. Empress Malidon is introduced. (**Catch the next chapter December 29)**

* * *

All children grow up with Fantasy and Adventure novels, but as they mature, they flaked of their dreams of becoming Princesses and Knights for more mature ideas, but not Lillian Hale. When she wasn't messing with Cornelia as a youth, she drowned herself into her extensive collection of fables, made up fairy encyclopedias and stories about true chivalry that her parents always bought her to "encourage her imagination". As the children her age became more interested in magazines, gaming and gossip, Lillian matures in her fantasy collection into darker and more emotional works of art. Staying over hours in the bookstore in the city while Cornelia met up with the rest of her friends at the Silver Dragon was a commonplace for the girl. When Cornelia met her passed out by tons of books, she told her younger sister that this was her second home.

When Irma was stuck with babysitting duties, Lillian and Irma's younger brother Christopher would usually spend their time finding magical adventures, on Lillian's approval. Lillian would spend their time all over the city finding something to make their dreams about fantasy reality while Chris followed in support and because he had nothing else better to do. At the time, Chris was Lillian's sidekick, partner in crime and her best friend all fit into a bite-size package. However, things change when they got to high school.

Sheffield High School was just like every high school. With different cliques like nerds, Freaks, Geeks, Jocks, Queen Bees and many more all ranging on the popularity scale from 150% total losers to the Crème of the Prop of the food chain, the duo of Lillian and Chris didn't fit in. The girls in their freshman class would make fun of Lillian's excessive reading and when they found out that it was fantasy literature, the high school crowd from the freshmen to the seniors marked her and Chris as the "Fantasy Losers of Sheffield High." What made things worst was that the school suspect the two were dating. Chris never took rejection to that degree well, so he started to branch out to a new group, considered the rejects of Sheffield high and was forced not only to completely reject his former best friend, but to make fun of her each time he saw her (In turn for approval to his new friends.) As he changed everything from his hair and clothes to his type of music, Lillian begun to see the effect high school social life had on him. Lillian dropped her former best friend to the curb before he got the chance to hurt her.

Lillian and Christopher from then on had separate different lives. Lillian Hale became her one-man army and kept believing in magic and fairy tales. She usually spend her time alone but found another person with similar interest while Christopher Lair became a follower to a group of followers, partying hard and drinking for approval of friends that would never have his back in the future. They done their own thing and lived their own lives, until December 22 of this year.

* * *

Lillian Hale would be 16 on December 24, if she could live past today. A monster with greenish-purple skin like leather, sharp yellow teeth with yellow eyes to complement, and a wing span all resembling a true life gargoyle was stopping her and Chris from living another day. Lillian didn't know that she possessed powers beyond her belief and in the brink of the moment, transferred them to the passed out Chris. As his body glowed in a multitude of light and energy, Lillian looked over at the monster quivering in the epic radiance and looking for darkness as its virtue. Chris appeared from the light in an outfit of gold and purest white. His hair draped from his back, his arms became strong and define. Chris stood in front of Lillian and held on to his European styled sword already to strike his enemy. "Chris...?" Lillian said to the new and improved figure. He glanced over at her, and then turns his attention back to the monster.

**"Guardian of The Heart of Earth,"** The monster spoke in its deep dark tone, however his stance didn't fit complement his tone. **"You are an enemy to my master, Empress Malidon. She will have the power!"**

Chris, without warning, stroked the beast with one swift hit of his sword. "Tell your Empress that she will have to come through the guardians of Earth before she steals it." The monster was injured, but well enough to escape the parking lot. Chris went over to the frighten Lillian, "Don't worry, your safe now," Chris voice was so gentle and had an undertone of valiancy. He holds his hand out for her to grasp.

Lillian collected herself and reached for Chris's hand. He pulled her up with such strength, causing Lillian's heart to flutter. "How...?" Lillian whispered. As she looked closer at him, she notices that he looked older from about his early to mid twenties. "I didn't realize it was so cold." The chill of the parking lot got to her. In the brink of death, she felt numb to the 34 degree parking lot weather.

Chris took of his shroud and gently placed it over her shoulders. "This will keep you warm." The uncovering of the shroud revealed his undershirt that securely fits his strong body. Her heart flutters turned into deep drum beats as her face flustered. "Are you ailing?" Chris noticed her discomfort.

Lillian hastily shook her head. The only thing now is for her to head back to her sister and Irma, but not with Chris current status. She gave back Chris's shroud and told him to stay in the parking lot out of sight. Chris understood her order and vanished from sight instantly after bowing to Lillian. The girl then left the parking lot in search for the elders.

"I don't think your brother went to look for my sister," Cornelia checked her phone for any messages from her younger sister. "I'm going to look for them. Corny saw her sister from the distance running toward them. "Lillian,"

"Sis...Irma..." Lillian said out of breath. "It's Chris..." The two followed Lillian back to the parking lot. "Chris..." Lillian yelled.

"Well, well, well…" Irma said in a humorous tone. "The loser didn't look for you?"

"Something happened that is kind of hard to explain." Irma and Cornelia looked at each other. "You guys have to come to the parking lot now."

Chris appeared through the shadows. He bowed to Lillian and gave a perplex look to the other two women next to her. "And these are your companions, Guardians of the Veil?"

"What?" Lillian said to him. She looked over at her sister and Irma. They both have a dumb-founded/we- are-totally-hiding-something expression on their faces. "What are you guys hiding? How are we going to get Chris back to normal?"

"What?" Irma had a nervous laugh. "I do not know what this 'guy' is talking about."

"I guess the cats out of the bag," Cornelia said to her sister. Irma nudged her. "There's no use hiding it from her anymore." She walked past Chris and scanned him. "He seems to fit the character of a 'guardian' well."

"I thought 'little boys didn't amuse you'." Irma placed emphasis on the latter words. "The best bet is to head to the Oracle. Lillian, he will explain everything and chance Chris back to the toad he was meant to be."

"Good Idea," Cornelia heard her phone ring and she answered her call. "Hi... I know she's a pain... Good... Really... We were just heading there... In 15... Okay, bye." Corny hung up her phone. "It's Hay-Lin. She flew in from New York."

"Awesome," Irma said. "It's like having the group back. All we need is Will and….Taranee."

Cornelia grunted at Taranee name mentioned by Irma. "It's a good thing were already in the Parking lot. We're driving to Hay-Lin's place first, then to the Veil and the Oracle."

_I wonder if anyone saw what happened, _Lillian thought as she, Irma and the new and improved Chris sat in Cornelia's car. In a small way, he didn't want Chris to change back. He seemed more genuine now then he was 30 minutes ago. Chris glanced over at Lillian and gave her a warm smile and reached for her hand to comfort her. From that moment, she finally felt the magic she always dreamt about and the knight she desired.

* * *

A woman sat by her cauldron in silence observing the fight on earth, dimensions far away. Her garb was in shades of green and black silk, her hair was purest platinum blond and her fingers cradled her sharp black nails. The monster from the parking lot hurries to the woman, **"Empress Malidon,"** the monster bows to his highness, **"The guardians of earth have re-awakened."** The monster knew the punishment for failing an agenda. "**They surprised me; The Heart of Earth changed a boy instantly to her guardian.**

"Good," The woman said with a smile.

**"Good?"** The monster questioned. The monster was afraid that the Empress would end his life for losing, **"A thousand apologies for my failure, you highness!"**

"That's enough," She said quietly. The babbling beast quieted. She carried herself with ease as she walked over to her servant. "Demka, get me my staff."

**"Yesss,"** Demka said with relief as he left the room.

Today, she had no need to torture her servants for more important things in mind. Malidon headed over to her cauldron and placed her index figure in the mixture. "The battle has just begin, Heart of Earth." She said staring at the image of Lillian Hale. "It truly has…"

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took so long for My second Chapter. Had to finish my other Fanfiction **Winx** **club** **Eternix** Part 1 ». Hope you enjoy the story!


	3. Chapter 3: WICH

**W.I.T.C.H: The Heart of Earth Chapter 3**

**W.I.C.H****:** Irma, Cornelia, Chris and Lillian met up with Hay-Lin and left to Kandrakar with the help of Yan-Lin. Memories of the former team resonates in Cornelia, Irma and Hay-Lin while Chris turns back normal.

* * *

Wilhelmina Vandom, Irma Lair, Taranée Cook, Cornelia Hale and Hay-Lin Lin established the team W.I.T.C.H ten years ago in Hay-Lin's parents' restaurant, the Silver Dragon. Each member had a unique personality trait: Will had a snarky personality, Irma was the jokester, Cornelia was the pampered princess and Hay-Lin was the free-spirited character. All four of these girls had their guardian powers to match their personality. Taranée out of all the girls didn't fit with her element. She was the quiet, nerdy type in her middle and most of her high school career. Fire was always the element that represents inner and outer strength & temperament, but Taranée had never grasped her inner power until her sophomore year in high school.

The Oracle had warned the girls about a fire that will turn green, but none of them took it seriously. Taranée started to feel unappreciated within the group that only used for homework help and tutoring through her eyes, and felt this way even from her best friend Will. She retracted herself from the group and done things on her own. Hay-Lin saw Taranée falling out in the beginning and gave her advice when she felt down, but the fire guardian ignored her words of wisdoms.

Taranée inferiority complex grew into jealousy. She begun to change herself to out beat her friends. She joined the swimming team as the manager to tell the members hateful things about Will. She would talk Irma's crushes out of getting to know. Taranée would put Hay-Lin down each time Hay-Lin shown her kooky persona. Cornelia became Taranée biggest and most challenging target. She merged everything she had done with the rest of her teammates to Cornelia and when Cornelia found out about her plots against her, World War III struck Sheffield High like a magnitude 9 Earthquake.

The rest of the team had confronted Taranée for her actions. She admitted it to them, but she kept on to her schemes. Will and Cornelia became Taranee's sworn enemies while Irma and Hay-Lin tried to mend things with Taranée, but their efforts failed each time. The team had no choice and fought villains without her, costing them several battles.

As graduation approached and the five of them would drift off to adulthood, all the girls tried to reconcile their differences but an undercurrent of hate and betrayal swarmed Wilhelmina and Cornelia against Taranée. At the end, the girls lived their separate lives. Hay-Lin worked as a Technical Designer for a major fashion house with Cornelia who was an Assistant Stylist. Irma was studying for a Marine Biology degree while Will with the help of a swim scholarship studied Anthropology at a major university. Taranée majored in Psychology. W.I.T.C.H had become W.I.C.H. and all of them were too far gone with their live to build back the team, but maybe a spark of hope will come today, MAYBE.

* * *

The drive to the Silver Dragon was the most awkward moment of Lillian life so far. "New and Improved" Chris held her hand for most of the ride and endearingly tried to comfort her when she seemed down or confused. Irma watched the two from the rear view mirror and couldn't help but laugh while Cornelia kept her eyes on the road.

Cornelia found the only open space a block away. "Um, Corny we came here to hide Chris from the wondering eyes." Irma said.

"What am I supposed to do? This was the only parking space closets to the restaurant."

"I guess it my turn to help," Someone said outside Irma's side of the window. Cornelia rolled down the window and saw that it was Hay-Lin. "Air fairy, at your service!"

"Oh my bubbling sunshine, how long has it been!" Irma dramatically said with an undertone of humor. They hadn't seen each other in a year.

"A year, my sweetie pie," Hay-Lin looked over at the two in the back. "Hi Lillian and the strange boy in the back,"

Cornelia added in, "The strange boy is Chris, Lillian's new guardian. We have to head to the Oracle to hopefully turn Chris back to normal."

"Wow they look so cute together. They're even holding hands!" Hay-Lin pointed down at their hands

"Hey, hands off each other," Cornelia yelled at her sister and Chris.

"You can't stop true love!" Hay-Lin and Irma said in unison.

"We are not in love; it's just that," Lillian turned to Chris. "You don't need to hold my hand and everything; I'm fine, really,"

Hay-Lin sighed, "Okay Chris, I'm going to turn you invisible!" In one...two...three presto, the Guardian of Earth was invisible. All five of them then head on to the Restaurant.

The Silver Dragon would always be packed during the holiday seasons. Tired shoppers would always stop by to order stir-fried rice and veggies, and roasted duck. Yan-Lin was relaxing by the take out area removing her shoes and cracking her toes into one another, (if you ask me, it's not the best place to go if the workers take their shoes off and hearing cracked toes while you eat Lo Mein.) Yan-Lin didn't get much older for the past ten years, but she did start growing grays. The former guardian of air looked over at the approaching group. "Hi girls,"

"Grandma, we need your help!" Hay-Lin said it with no sign of desperation but with humor.

"Aaahh, Lillian," Yan-Lin went over to her, "Your powers are coming in nicely, and you got yourself an extra guardian."

"Extra guardian, powers; what is going on?"

"Come, come, I'll make up a portal for you guys." Yan-Lin lead the group down the stairs to the old headquarters of the W.I.T.C.H team. She grabbed a stone of purest white from a drawer and sliced the air. The air from that area began to twist and bend before it ripped open revealing a warp tunnel of purple. "There we go."

"So where going in that?" Lillian asked. Yan-Lin nodded. Chris placed his hands on her shoulders. "Chris!"

"Lillian, I'm only here to comfort and protect you. Am I not doing my job correctly?"

Lillian felt bad for Chris, _He's only doing what he thinks is right,_ she thought. The five of them enter the portal and were warped to a large stone building held up with airy clouds. All Lillian could say was wow.

"Home sweet Veil," Irma said.

The Oracle appeared from the estates entrance. "Guardians of water, earth and air," He said, "You came with the heart of earth and the latest guardian of earth." The Oracle pointed the way. "Come now, it's in imperative that you must hear this."

Lillian had an odd feeling about the Oracle. She expected him to be a really ancient man like the wise mage from her fairy tale novels, but he looked the same age as "New and Improved" Chris. They were shown to a private chamber a room away from the meeting hall. "I'm glad that we get to meet, Lillian. However your powers aren't supposed to kick in until you were eighteen. For what I can tell you, you are the Heart of Earth: the essence of all the things his world carries. Unlike the heart of Kandrakar where the powers are the elements Quintessence, Water, Fire, Earth and Air, The Heart of Earth supplies powers of Light, Dark and Strength... so far. Originally, you pet cat, the boy Matthew and a door mouse named Mr. Huggles were your guardians, however since the mouse passed away and Matt could no longer protect you, you chosen Christopher as your latest guardian."

"Matt and his door mouse and my cat were my guardians?" Lillian looked at her hands. "How long did I have my powers for?"

"Over 10 years now," Cornelia answered, "Remember the time I read you the quiet unique bedtime story? You ended up putting my friends, the entire condo and some pets in it."

The Oracle explained to her more about her powers, the Heart of Kandrakar and Cornelia and her friends role in it and about the origin of Hearts of different dimensions. "Is there anything else that I missed?"

"Well two things: I heard the monster that attacked me said that he worked for an Empress Malidon, who is she and how is Chris going to change back normal?"

"Christopher, I want you to close your eyes and think about the last thing you remembered before you changed."

Chris closed his eyes, "I think I could remember... Lillian was mad, for something..." Chris instantly changed back to his former self.

"What's all he had to do?" Cornelia said. "You know, I take back what I said about him begin a 'fit guardian.'"

"It's not remembering about remembering an event in particular. He has to remember 'himself'. One day, he would be turn on and off his guardian form. For the topic of Empress Madilon," The Oracle turns away from the group," She is someone who I cannot tell you about. You will learn about her soon enough."

* * *

Cornelia, Lillian, Irma, Chris and Hay-Lin exited the Veil back to the Silver Dragon basement. Yan-Lin treated them complementary lunch, "Oh the five of you remind me of W.I.T.C.H!"

Cornelia rolled her eyes, "I guess we do..." She said nonchalantly.

"You have to admit it kind of does." Hay-Lin added in. "Olden times..."

"Hay-Lin, you make us sound life 65-year-old farts." Irma said.

"Hey," Yan-Lin fired at Irma, "You wish you would look like this at 65!" Yan-Lin gestured at her body. All the girls laughed.

Hay-Lin questioned with nostalgia. "At least one more time..."

"If someone got off their high horse," Cornelia concluded. Cornelia did yearn for the group to be together for at least one more time, but she had to be realistic about the situation and move on.

Across the table, Chris and Lillian were eating quietly. "So Chris, do you remember anything that happened in the parking lot?"

There was a long unusual pause; probably he was more focused on his food than chatting. "I did." He finally said.

Lillian knew that the conversation needed to end. Chris and Lillian had to get use to the magic and the fight and all the secrets their siblings held. Unlike Chris, Lillian had someone else other than her big sister to talk about that to.


	4. Chapter 4: Derrick Meade

**W.I.T.C.H The heart of earth chapter four**

Derrick Meade was an adolescent with an extraordinary mind; placed in his Junior class, top science and math student in Sheffield High and a predominate teacher's pet. After all the school work, he dived into his extensive collection of anime and magna, yearned for the days until Comic Con in San Diego and larped like no tomorrow with his comic crazed friends. When he met Lillian Hale during their freshman year, it was a match made in fantasy heaven (...well for Derrick.) They spent their time pondering fantasy and adventure novels and sharing their ideas about the plot, characters and the authors who wrote the novels. In a way, the position formerly held by Christopher Lair was given to Derrick Meade.

Although Lillian had kept their friendship strictly where she liked it -as only a friendship- the nerdy loner Derrick wanted to move from the friend zone. He would always persuade her to larp with him and even paid for her plane and entry ticket to Comic Con (Lillian did pay him back, of course.) He would be the first person to say hi to her, the last person to say good night to her and the only person that she talked to outside of school with. However, none of that helped with his awkward attempt to sweep Lillian off her feet.

Derrick Meade only had one enemy, Christopher Lair. Chris had never done anything wrong to him, nor did they have had the same classes, lunch period or group of friends. Chris and Derrick had never even met before but hearing Lillian share her story about him made Derrick swear revenge on him. The day when Lillian shared her story about how Chris changed on her, the way how her eyes were red from utter disappointment shook Derrick heart and soul, wanting her to never feel that type of pain again and doing all he could to make her happy.

To sum things up, Derrick Meade was a nerdy, loyal, kind-hearted and smart adolescent. When things begun to shake up the lives of Lillian and Chris, He would be the first person to hear about it, when but the small chance of something going all wrong all the three of them would have their lives changed, maybe forever.

* * *

Derrick headed to the park in a hurry. The other day, Lillian left him a message to meet her at the park around 9 am. It was now 8:45 by the time Derrick entered the park. "Lillian," Derrick saw the silhouette of a girl by the frozen pond.

"Derrick," Lillian waved to him from the distance.

Derrick heart skipped a beat, "Happy Day-Before-Your-Birthday,"

Lillian said thanks to his awkward comment. She walked in silence with Derrick as he talked about his last couple of days in New York City with his dad and all the new larping gear he got from underground stores. Lillian admired Derrick for being original: he did the things he wanted to do, he openly loved comics & manga and how sincere he was. She knew that he would be the only person Lillian could tell about what transpired the day before. "Um Derrick," Derrick stopped talking, "There's something I need to tell you."

"I'm all ears," He stood in front of Lillian, in full attention mode.

Lillian Hale stared into his ocean blue eyes behind his clunky glasses for a moment. "Maybe not,"

"Lillian," Derrick said in a high-pitched tone. Derrick differed from Chris in many ways. Chris was taller, tanner and had a deeper voice. Derrick was about a half an inch taller than Lillian, one shade tanner from the color of milk and had a mesh of octaves, sopranos and bases to express every emotion in his book. Derrick was missing puberty by a couple of years despite the field mines of acne on his face and for that a split second, she thought if Derrick would be her guardian, what would he look like. "You know how I get when you say stuff and you don't tell me." Derrick noticed Lillian was gesturing her hands in a nervous manner. "Just tell me," Derrick held her hands. Lillian looked down at his oddball action. Derrick quickly retreated. "S-sorry..."

"Derrick," Lillian shook her head. When he held her hands, it reminded her of Chris holding her hands when the group drove to the Silver Dragon. Her face flushed, "It's nothing..."

"You're blushing," Derrick mentioned. Lillian hid her face in embarrassment. "There's no such thing as nothing. Lillian, you can trust me," Derrick grabbed a hold of her pinky with his pale skinny one. "Pinky Swear,"

"Okay," Lillian had given up. "Do you believe in magic?"

"Of course I do!"

"I mean, believe it-believe it..."

Derrick was perplexed by her wording. He said "yes" in a confused way. "I mean, I'll like to believe it's real... I know the difference between fantasy and real-life and 'magic' isn't real."

"Well, what if I could tell you that it is real, and yesterday I experienced it myself." Lillian relaxed. "Yesterday, my sister and I met Chris and his sister at the mall,"

"Christopher Lair," Derrick said, "The meat-headed loser from freshman biology; I thought you...disliked him."

"His sister and my sister are BFFs. Anyways, I went to the parking lot by myself and Chris found me there, then so monster attacked us and nearly killed the both of us until Chris transformed into this 'Guardian' and defeated it. We went to the Silver Dragon restaurant and entered this portal and met a bald guy named The Oracle that told me that I was the 'Heart of Earth', Chris and my cat Napoleon were my current guardians and my sister and Chris's sister were a part of a team and they had a their own heart."

"Wow..." Derrick thought it was a hoax, "That must be one heck of a novel and it has a real interesting plot, Lillian."

She punched him, "It's the truth! Napoleon talked to me last night!"

"I'm sorry, but you have to prove it." Derrick rubbed the impact zone, "Could it kill you to be less aggressive?"

"Fine, I'll make Napoleon talk to you myself!" Lillian clutched his arm as they stormed off to her place. "Then you will see that I'm not a nut job!"

* * *

Cornelia greeted Lillian and Derrick as they entered the condo. "Do you guys need anything?"

"No, that's fine sis," Lillian answered.

"Don't be si-lll-ly! We have to treat our guess with a top priority." Cornelia wasn't taking Lillian's turn-down for a second. She knew she had to talk to her sister before she would say something that she may regret. "Lillian, can you help me prepare something seasonal for your friend?" Lillian shrugged. Derrick sat on the couch and waited for Lillian. Cornelia grabbed her sister by the sleeve. "You don't need to tell the world!"

"Corny, he's my best friend! He likes this stuff and he's the only one I could talk to other than you and Irma."

"Lillian, bring others into situations like this have major consequences. Remember Will; she brought her boyfriend then into our secret and it caused him to be controlled by some evil, ugly hag. He broke out of it anyways, but it wasn't pleasant!"

"Corny, I can handle this so stop making coco. It's like 9:30 in the morning and you don't like doing this stuff to guest!"

Cornelia placed the mugs back into the holders, "You know, you're right," She grabbed her purse and jacket from the closet.

"Where are you going?"

"Unlike you, little sis," Cornelia said. "I have a career and have to do career oriented things, shopping to be exact!"

Lillian said bye to her sister and locked the front door as she exited the condo. Derrick was comfortably sitting on the couch when Napoleon jumped on his stomach. Derrick, surprised by the cat's reaction, stood up and cost the elderly cat to fall on the ground. "Napoleon," Lillian said. Napoleon was a 15 1/2-year-old fat cat now. "You shouldn't be jumping on people's stomachs like that!"

The cat only purred. It circled around Derrick's feet and rubbed its furry body on Derrick's shins. "I think Napoleon finally likes me," Derrick mentioned to Lillian. Derrick remembered the first time he met Lillian cat. Napoleon jumped up in anger and lashed out on the defenseless Derrick and from then on the feline has only been a pesky-pet. Derrick picked up Napoleon and placed him on his lap. "I could actually pick him up without being bruised."

"Napoleon," Lillian said, "I told Derrick everything, everything. He doesn't believe me and I want you to convince him that magic is real and you can talk."

The dark-haired feline carefully scanned Derrick's face from his ice-blue eyes to his black hair and fair-skin. Derrick also looked down at Napoleon with curiosity. Napoleon stood up to touch the boy's face, then his hair then finally rest its right ear on Derrick's chest. The cat then retreated back to its original position and stretched its mouth. "Meow..." said the cat in a flat manner.

"Meow!" Lillian yelled, "That's it?"

Napoleon meowed again this time towards the direction of the kitchen. He leaped from Derrick's lap and headed to the kitchen.

"Derrick, I'll be right back... again..." Lillian speed walked to the kitchen and saw Napoleon perched up on the kitchen counter with his eyes glued to Lillian. "So one moment you're babbling about and next moment you're quiet as a mouse?"

"Meow," said Napoleon.

"Napoleon, don't do this to me. Derrick is a good friend and he may think that I'm crazy if you don't speak."

"Meow, Meow," yet again, the cat said.

"Napoleon, stop playing!"

"Meeeeeooooowww!" Napoleon stretched his meow. He stretched his back, straightens up, and then leaped away to Lillian's bedroom.

Derrick was sitting down now with a perplexed look on his face. He had begun to adjust his sitting arrangement when he heard Lillian scream, "YOU STUPID CAT!" She left the kitchen in a fuss and into the living room. "I'm so sorry, Derrick. You have to believe me."

"Um, Lillian," Derrick stood up, "I think my mom just called me for help...household help."

"Derrick," Lillian reached for his arm. Other things including Derrick's heart jumped. Lillian's hands were soft and her grip was firm, a little too firm for his feeble arm. "Please don't go, only Chr-" She felt a sharp pain from her mid-calf to just over her ankle. Napoleon snuck back into the living-room and scratched the crap out of Lillian's lower leg, ripping her black leggings. "NAPOLEON!"

The cat meowed one last time, but this time he lifted his head in praise. Derrick eyes widen when he saw the damage the cat done on Lillian. "Lillian, your leg is bleeding."

"Crap, crap, crap," Lillian reentered the kitchen and cleaned up the wound with a damp paper towel.

"You need to disinfect the wound," Derrick looked inside the cabinets for hydrogen peroxide. "Shouldn't you get the cat declawed?"

"Napoleon hasn't been violent enough to scratch me." Lillian sat down on a chair with her feet raised to the counter. Derrick opted for soap and a disposable towel when he couldn't find his original choice of disinfectant. The soapy suds on top of her wound stung Lillian, "That stings..."

Derrick smiled, "I mean that it's working." Lillian gently laughed. "I guess I should get going."

Lillian was disappointed. She glanced over at Napoleon, who was still fixated on Derrick and motioned his paw in a scratching gesture when the cat glanced over at Lillian. "I guess you have to."

"Oh before," Derrick pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He opened the sections fast but carefully, "I got this invitation for a New Year's bash on the thirty-first."

"Kristen Krey's New Year's bash..." Lillian said robotically. The girl didn't have to look at the invite to know it was a party hosted by Kristen Krey. "When did she ever invite us?"

"I don't know, but I can tell this is an authentic email. It has her social email." Derrick collected his belongings. "I'll talk you later and enjoy your last hours of your 15th year." He looked over at Napoleon. "I got my eye on you, Mr. Fat cat."

Lillian said her goodbyes to her best friend and closed the door behind him, "You know you could have at least helped me... AND YOU SCRATCHED ME REALLY HARD!"

Napoleon licked his paw, "I do what I can and I want what I can."


	5. Chapter 5: Lightning and Flame

**W.I.T.C.H: The Heart of Earth chapter five**

**Lightning and Flame**

The twenty-two year old Will was smitten with her new co-worker, Eric. He was everything a girl could ask for all wrapped up in a six-foot, blond hair package. With his Hollywood looks, he was an amazing gentleman with a sense of humor and had an eclectic taste in food and culture. The question is: WHAT IS STOPPING WILL FROM GOING OUT WITH HIM?

Will has had several different boyfriends after Matt:

Liam: (freshman year-Junior year) Not the brightest but he had a fun character. He proved too fun after Will caught him cheating on her with a senior. She hasn't seen him since high school.

Caldwell: (senior year) Smart class president. Not a good sense of humor, but he was honest. Wilma could not tell him that she was the Guardian of the Veil and he wouldn't put up with her constant lies. They went to the same college together, but they never spoke a word to each other since their breakup.

She had a large dry spell afterwards. A bunch of horrible first dates and blind dates made her quit the pursuit of a significant other for a while and focus more on her studies and work. Matt was perfect for Will because he knew about the Guardian secret and he was in fact a Guardian, but his family moved after his last year in middle school. They did keep contact with each other but after he told her about his new girlfriend, their friendship grew apart.

* * *

"Hey, don't touch that!" A young woman with a shoulder length bob with a deep bang yelled.

Three boys were in the Asian art exhibit going over the gates. One of the menacing boys yelled, "Whatever, Crazy Red-Head!" The others laughed. "My dad invested in this museum, so pretty much every stupid artifact is mine."

"I'll remember that the next time your father notices anything broken. He'll be like, 'Who broke that 2.5 million dollar vase from the timeline exhibit,' and I'll be like, 'Your son told me that this place was pretty much his and he broke it.'"

The young freckled-faced boy was stunned, and then he smirked, "Whatever! Did anyone tell you that you look like Ronald Mc. Donald with straight hair today? The boys laugh in unison and ran out of the museum.

Will waited until she couldn't see the sight of the boys to open her mirror and check her make up. Usually, Will had chosen the bare minimal when it came to make up (foundation, soft colored lip balm and a touch of rouge blush,) but since she was working with Eric before the long Holiday break she decided to go all out with her make up. This resulted to flatten uneven curls, over-bearing perfume, jersey styled jewelry and clown-faced make up inspired by the famous face itself. The high heat to aid against the cold weather was the culprit for a couple of Will fashion fiascos, but it was her lovey-dovey emotions that drove her into the bait of embarrassment. She dabbed some of the excess make up off, but it smudged to the corners of her face. She felt a slight tug to her uniform. "Yes!" Will turned around.

A small girl with a short brown bob began to tear up and cry. "Mommy, scary clown!"

The young child's mother ran over to her and held her daughter, "You must be a shamed for yourself!" The mother yelled at Will, "Who would even think to hire someone who came to work looking like that scaring children."

All eyes were towards the conflict...towards Will. People laughed at the sight of Will's face. _Utter humiliation... _Will thought, _Complete utter humiliation..._

"Madame, my co-worked is having a little make-up malfunction..." The man of Will's affections said. "She doesn't mean any harm and all she wants is to help you during you exploration of this incredible museum."

The mother blushed at his advance, "It's all right, since you put it that way…" she said. His bright smile diminished her angry demeanor toward Will. The mother left with the child in her arms.

"Will," Eric glanced over at her face, "It seems as if you have too much make up on? With the unbelievable heat inside the museum, your face would appear to be melting off."

_Don't forget my hair..._ Will thought. It wounded Will that Eric made that remark even though he meant it in a friendly way. It reminded Will of her high school swim team when her teammates made passive-aggressive jabs at her. "I'm fine; I just need to wash my face."

"Our break isn't for another 30 minutes," Eric checked his watch, "Professor Dubois won't be happy to see that you're using the bathroom during your shift."

Will played her puppy dog eyes. "Can you please convince him?"

"Don't worry, I got your back but you have to do something for me," Eric gave her an invitation, "There's a party tonight downtown and I want you to come. I can't imagine you spending the day before the eve working over-time in the museum."

Other than Eric, Will's co-worker, Will didn't make many friends since she entered the paleontology program. Eric always tried to persuade her to join him in a couple of get-togethers, but Will refused all of his invites. It wasn't like she didn't have a legitimate reason she couldn't make it; sometimes she would be working out or she would have to care for her turtles or the classic "I have other plans" routine. Okay, all of her reasons were excuses for Eric not to know Will's true feelings for him and her awkwardness when she met other people. However, this time she had a decent excuse for missing out his party, "I have an early morning flight tomorrow. You know how busy it gets on Christmas Eve."

Eric's eyes widen, "Let's just say, like I know you so well, you've already packed for you flight. Work doesn't end until 7, and it's a very 'casual' weak liquor party to celebrate Christmas approach. You can get home say around 10-12, get some rest, wake up and get ready for you flight in no time. And I guess 'early morning' means around 9 am, since you plan you flights months in advance to get the best deals!"

Will raised her eyebrow. "Gee, you know me so well..."

"Of course, by bubbly redhead, so is that a yes?"

"Can I go in my work clothes?" Eric nodded. Will sighed, "...Okay... Only if it's for an hour..."

Eric controlled his excitement. "It starts around seven." He humorously said. "But know you will have to fix the curse of the clown-face like now."

* * *

Will and Eric's shifts were almost over. Will was assisting some of the attendees out of the museum when she saw a young woman in a beautiful jacket with a fur trim and neatly polished curls sitting by a mastodon skeleton display. Will walked over to the woman, but begun to slow her pace when she saw her tan skin and amber color eyes. The young woman glances over at Will for a second, then she eyes narrowed. She stood up and faced her former friend. "I'm sorry, but the museum is closing soon."

The young woman pursed her lips, and then smiled gently, "I know," she said in a smooth sultry voice, "I'm waiting for someone who works here..."

If Will would have known she would have met Taranee again, she would have added a bit more makeup on after she washed out the clown face hours ago. She looked so different from the last time she saw her so years ago. It actually intimidated Will, an emotion that Will seldom got. "I'm sorry, but you will have to wait for that someone out of the property,"

"Oh, there he is," Eric came out from a back room toward the direction of Will. He came over and kissed Taranee on the cheek. She said hi to Eric.

"Will, this is my girlfriend, Taranee; Taranee, this is my coworker, Will." Eric introduced. Will's heart broke in fours, the first split was for finding out the Eric had a girlfriend and the other was for calling Will his co-worker instead of friend. "I guess you two have already met."

"Oh no, just now," She said stiffly, still looking at Will. "She was trying to have me escorted of the premises. All of you other coworkers had never done that before."

Eric smacked his head gently, "I know I should have told her about the protocol." He kissed Taranee again on the cheek.

Nausea ran through Will's stomach like a bullet train. Watching her crush with her former best friend that irked her nerves was heart-breaking already, but the way how Eric zoned Will out and demoted her status to "coworker" was too painful. "I didn't know that you had a...girlfriend..."

Taranee's eyes widen, and then they narrowed gently. She knew now that Will was jealous. "Well, you ARE just his 'coworker'," she emphasized coworker, "Was that something so important to know? Well since you're so intruding, mid-January would make it a year since we are together." Taranee got closer to Eric, kissed him so close but not at his lips to irritated the already angry Will. "Eric, I'm ready to go, the car is waiting outside."

Eric smiled. He kissed Taranee on the lips. "And Will, remember the get-together later." The couple left together.

Will watched the two leave the museum. She saw how victor Taranee glanced back at the defeated Will and hugged Eric tighter as they exited. When the doors closed shut, the lights around the area shorted out. Static ran throughout Will's body. Her cellphone was trying to calm her down, but she wasn't hearing it. Her anger seized when Taranee reentered the museum. "Is there anything else you need!"

"From you, nothing," She looked around the spot she last sat by. "I just misplaced something."

"Well, find it quick!" Static reflow Will's body again. She didn't notice that the static frizzed her hair.

"Relax, Loser, I have..." She glanced up at the frizzy headed Will, "Wow, no wonder Eric didn't make the first move..."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!"

"It means that you're an unsatisfied, frizzy headed freak... and it's hilarious that I stole your crush!"

Will was about to yell, maybe strike Taranee but the commotion stopped when they heard a low grumbling sound. The two looked around, "Did you hear that?"

"Yes," Taranee's voice was uneven and stern. "Why else would I bother to look around this ugly place?"

"I don't think it is 'normal,'" Will used her quintessence ability to illuminate sections if the museum. She heard the low grumble again. A swift shadow was heading to their direction. She locked all the doors and entrances to the exhibit then took out the Heart of Kandrakar, "Guardians Unite!" Will and Taranee undergone their guardian transformation donning the same outfits they wore as youths but the sign of their element sign were placed on the center of their tops. Will's hair lengths just enough for her hair to take on an asymmetrical look while Taranee donned her polished curls but carried a long side braid that reach pass her bust point. "Be careful,"

"I know what to do!" Taranee yelled. She threw elevated flames to illuminate the rest of the museum trying to reveal the creature's location. As they split up, Taranee heard a loud monstrous sound, then a beast four times her size jumped from the ceiling on top of her. "Get off of me!"

The monster giggled. He swiftly lifted the fire guardian. Taranee was now in the front view of the beast ghastly, gross face as it smiled to her.** "...Pretty..."** He said.

Will flied over and shocked the monster. Taranee was able to leave the monster's grips and gave it some fire shots. Will and Taranee then placed their powers together to create a barrier around the beast. "Now, we have to send it back, wherever it came from."

The creature screamed. **"Demka, the job's done!"** A green and black portal opened under its feet. The creature when through before Will and Taranee got the chance to stop it. Afterwards, the lights when back to its usual hue, the fires that Taranee made were out and the two when back to their civilian clothes. The doors and entrances unlocked. Taranee and Will looked at each other with confusion and anger.

"You were a little too sloppy, Taranee." Will said. "You were lucky that I came over to help."

Eric reentered the museum, "Taranee, did you find what you were looking for? I was waiting in the car for like twenty minutes."

"I did..." She got back over to Eric and slit her arm inside of his, "We can leave know..."

Will looked over at the couple. This time Taranee left with Eric without a snotty shot at Eric but with an ignoring gesture to her as if what happened a few minutes ago didn't. Will looked around the museum one last time, now using the Heart of Kandrakar as a tracking device to hunt down the monster's aura. It led her to the weaponry of the ages exhibit, but nothing was missing. _This is clearly something that needed to be checked out, even though it has been YEARS since I've been in action..._ Will texted Eric, telling him that she won't be at the get-together. _'Sorry, but this time I have an real reason why I'm leaving…_


	6. Chapter 6: A Festive Somber

**W.I.T.C.H: The Heart of Earth Chapter Six**

**A Festive Somber**

The Holiday seasons were known for being the greatest time of year. Gifts, traditional music and family togetherness complemented the chill weather surrounding the December month. Lillian's birthday had hit this festive month and on the eve of one of the most popular holidays, Christmas. Mr. and Mrs. Hale would each time go over-the-top for her birthday; ordering all of Lillian's favorite foods and doubling her Christmas gifts or taking her out to shows and a dinner. Cornelia would buy her a birthday ensemble head-to-toe look. Aunts, Uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces as well as the grandparents would come all the way to Heatherfield to pinch, scrutinize and annoy Lillian. This was the reason the holiday season made the newly sixteen year old gag, but this time she found out beside all the loud holiday caroling from her Aunt Astrid and the reruns of "A Christmas Story" a snap back into "normal" reality unlike the days before when a gargoyle assaulted her and her new guardian Chris was what she need.

Lillian was helping her grandmother in the kitchen with gingerbread cookies. Lillian loved the smell of this holiday treats but the road making them to edible perfection was a long and hard one. Her grandmother was an old-fashioned bake-a-feast-in one-day type of granny. She would critique her grandchildren for a messy workplace, slow stirring and laziness, which Lillian's older sister had a lot of. Cornelia didn't like to get her hands, nor her feet, her hair, nor her attire dirty and she often clash with the matriarch on her obsession of perfection. Cornelia would be on the couch, scanning the TV for a non-holiday related program or in her Vogue magazine for the latest fashions. Grandma Hale saw this and would snatch whatever was in her hand, causing WWIII in the Hale condominium. Lillian had to take a breather from the ongoing arguing from her sister and Grandma Hale. She escaped to her bedroom and found three of her younger cousins trying to play tug-of-war with Napoleon. Lillian threw each one of them out by their collars and slammed the door behind them before she slumped into her computer chair. Napoleon, fully recovered from the death machines of Lillian's cousins, stretched his body then jumped on her computer desk. "That was a great body massage. They're getting better each year."

Lillian didn't respond to Napoleon. She looked up at her lavender walls with shimmering charms that she bought at a home goods store a year ago. The transparent star and moon shapes moved gently as she looked at there shining shape. Those charms were her indicators that someone entered the room. They would jingle at the slightest breeze. During the night of a full moon, they captured the white rays and distribute them across the lavender walls and kiss her collection of fantasy novels on the bookshelf by her computer. During a sunny morning, they stole the sun's gleam, cascading the spectrum directly to Lillian's eyes making her wake up before her alarm served its purpose. She closed her eyes for a second and tried to remember the event that occurred on the twenty-second of December, the faithful day that altered her life perhaps forever. She thought of how the rays from the moon to the charms reminded her somewhat of when she looked upon the new and improved Chris for the first time, or maybe it matched sunlight more. She lifted her right hand and stared it carefully at her fingertips. Napoleon watched her carefully and questioned what she was doing, but she continued. Light footsteps turned heavy as Lillian focused more on her right hand. Lavender and pink sparkles flew from her finger tips, but Lillian wanted to do more. A knock was heard from the door. Napoleon jumped on Lillian's lap, but the thud didn't distract Lillian from creating a Fourth of July display in her bedroom. The knocking continued, this time louder. Napoleon licked her left hand, but Lillian still didn't budge. Lillian Hale was in a trance that over powered her ability to NOT notice the things around her. Napoleon had to think of something quick. As her only guardian present, it was his responsibility to protect her and prevent the secret of her abilities, the powers of the heart of earth, from being revealed. He gave her one sharp scratch to the face. Unfortunately, not only Lillian still stayed with the trance but the door open. "Lillian," the person said. Napoleon thanked heaven that it was Cornelia. "Lillian?"

"She's stuck like that! I just scratched her face and she still didn't budge!"

Cornelia walked over to Lillian. Her eyes were so transfixed with her hand that she sat like a wax figure. Cornelia pushed her sister's blond strands and revealed her left ear. She took a deep breath, then released it a large yelling noise in her ear. Lillian snapped out of her trance; the pain from Napoleon's scratch caused her to release the firework like energy across the bedroom. The three duck for cover as the magical energy bounced off the walls in the vibrancy of shooting stars. The sparks eventually fade away leaving dark spots on parts of Lillian's walls. "What just happened?"

"You ask me, Lillian." Cornelia said. "I came on and saw you staring at your firework hand."

Lillian released a deep breath. She remembered entering her room to get away from the chaos in the kitchen and remembered looking at her hand, the rest was a blur. "I'll try not to do that anymore..."

"I'm going out for a while. Gotta meet up with some guys,"

"You mean the rest of your guardian friends?" Cornelia told Lillian about her past as a guardian not too long after the incident couple days ago. It wasn't that Cornelia had magical powers that made her mad, but the idea that she didn't tell Lillian about it until now made her a little annoyed.

"Don't get mad, you have Napoleon!" She pointed at the fat cat. "Will ran into something the other day and the team's going to meet. I'll be back for your birthday celebration."

"Whatever..." Lillian got up from the computer chair. But soon, she got up and back to the kitchen to make up for her elder sister's slack.

Cornelia left Lillian's bedroom. She grabbed her jacket from the coat rack and left the condo.

* * *

WICH met up in a coffee shop not too far from the silver dragon. Irma was there with Hay-Lin when Cornelia reached. Will came afterwards. The four sipped their caramel cappuccinos in silence at first. It has been 2 years since they have been together, more since they were WITCH. Will finished her coffee, "So, how is your holiday week going on,"

"Fine for me," Hay-Lin said, "But I bet the rest of you guys have something to share..."

"Lillian found out about her powers," Cornelia started the conversation. "She picked Irma's brother to be her new guardian."

Will's eyes widen, "The Uriah rebirth!"

"Hey," Irma said, "Insults against my brother are my specialty."

"Gotta admit he was kinda hot..." Hay-Lin smiled. "Lillian had a huge imagination, a tall and handsome one for Chris."

Irma gagged. Cornelia's eyebrow rose. "I also have something to tell you guys. I saw Taranee the other day." Will mentioned.

"Yuck," Cornelia rolled her eyes, "Isn't she like so 4 years ago?"

"Well she looks amazing...and she's dating Liam..."

Hay-Lin gasped, "Your super crush, your pretty hot hottie, your blondie blond poo, you-"

"We get it!" Cornelia snapped, "But by your facial expression, something more is bother you."

"I got a text from him after I got off the plane." Will pulled out her smart-phone. "'Will, you really disappointed me. I thought we were friends, yet you ditched me after I invited you to a SMALL PARTY. Taranee told me everything. If you never wanted to go, just tell me and I'll be off you back. If you don't like me THEN WOMAN-UP AND JUST TELL ME THAT.'"

"Heartbreaking," Irma said.

While Hay-Lin shook her head in disappointment, Cornelia sucked her teeth, "Pathetic snake, I bet she made up a terrible story just to make herself look good. By how angry he was, I knew he felt the same way about you the same way you had about him."

"I don't want to talk about it too much..." Will swiped a lone tear from her cheek. "The main reason we're here is about the new threat."

"Lillian said something about a gargoyle-like creature attacking her and Chris in the mall parking lot. He served someone called Malidon." Cornelia said.

"A creature attacked me and Taranee in the museum. It said something about 'Demka'? I'm not sure if it's a person, place or thing."

"That's a noun, Willie." Irma smiled, "I don't want the Oracle or the others hounding us down for helping out Lillian and Chris. It isn't a guardian of Kandrakar's responsibility if the matter stays within one realm."

"Then we should prepare Chris, Lillian and any of her new guardians of earth for the next threat ahead.

* * *

Lillian's birthday ended of better than she thought. Her sister presented her with a brand new outfit, this year more to her liking. The whole family decided to eat in, and then saw a show with the exception of Uncle Jamie who slept after the pre-Christmas meal. The guardian of Earth also took along Napoleon for the fun. Mr. And Mrs. Hale then brought her to her favorite bookstore for her to pick out three books of her choice as her birthday gift, unaware that they would end up buying six thanks to their daughter's puppy dog eyes.

As she laid down for bed after a day of hard labor and fun, she glanced up again at her lavender walls and her shining chimes immerse in a brand new full moon. She clutched her new fantasy book by it hard cover shell. She reached her level of normal, more so comfortable and confident that she can remember the event just days ago with less fear. Her phone lit up with a text from Derrick telling her happy birthday. Napoleon leaped close to Lillian. "Do you want to know something?"

"Napoleon?" She questioned lightly. "Go to sleep..."

"You know, I won't always be here forever..."

Lillian glanced over at her pet. She knew from the beginning that animals have a much shorter life expectancy than humans but to add in all the new magic and that he can talk, may live well into his thirties. "What are you talking about?"

"Lillian, your powers have grown so strong, soon enough you will be able to use them all on your own. Very soon, you won't longer need me." Lillian started to sit up, but Napoleon stopped her. "Lillian, I know my time on earth ending soon. I can feel the days...months until my departure."

"Napoleon, stop!" She yelled, "What are you talking about?"

"Let's make these last six months' worth our wild!" Napoleon looked with excitement and Lillian eyes watered. He left the room so Lillian can have her privacy.

The heart of earth released her hold on the book. She rolled over on her bed as her sobbing got louder. She couldn't imagine that Napoleon's death would come so soon, or that the thought of her opening up her new powers would be the catalysis of Napoleon's timely death. She pushed her book as well as her cell phone off her bed and on her carpet as she cried through the dark night.


	7. Chapter 7: Reflections

WITCH: The Heart of Earth Chapter Seven: Reflections

Some moments in life were overlooked like a used candy wrapper, easy and forgotten. Chris's moment in life was like a filling after a dental cavity removal, permanent and painful. The image of Lillian, the gargoyle and most importantly himself burned into his mind. He recalled the moments up to when he opened his eyes after the monster struck him and then everything felt like an outer body experience. The bright warm sensation of light traveled throughout his form. He felt his arms stronger, his height increase, his hair longer and his clothing almost feeling like air. Chris felt himself become a "knight in shining armor" in the couple of seconds that felt like minutes to him. He also heard himself speak, felt himself move and understood his vocal responses but not at all like the words and phrases would he normally say. It was like several of his personality trails were copied, collected and merged to become one whole person within himself. Although Lillian recognized her new protector as the "New and Improved Chris", Chris saw himself as an impossible nightmare.

From the days on since the occurrence, Chris kept within little contact with his friends, spoke to Irma short enough for her not to bring it up and had no contact at all with the Heart of Earth. Unfortunately, December 31 was not the day to be anti-social. The Rejects of Sheffield High were invited to Kristen Krey's New Year's Bash. Kristen Krey was one of the populars, with her model looks to seal her membership and an evil persona to make her hated and worshiped by her peers. The Brunette princess invited her inner circle to the Rejects-that's Chris and his friends- to her gathering. She also invited the Fantasy Losers of Sheffield High with the intent to humiliate them. Chris knew that Lillian wasn't fond of Kristen; the two females had several quarrels and two ended up in fist-to-cuffs.

Chris exhaled in relief as he finished drinking a trivial glass of champagne, a customary beverage upon a New Year's Eve bash. He was nowhere near drunk, in fact the first hour pasted and Chris had just finished his first alcoholic beverage. His friends on the other hand: Tyler, tan-skin boy with shoulder-length cornrows; Mick, short guy with short spiky blond hair and Roger, chubby male with crazed curls, were gleefully drunk. They messed with some cheerleaders, flirted with some Goth chicks, and tried to sneak on some popular females who stung them when they got to close. Roger observed Chris's absence and stumbled over to the fourth reject, wrapping his right arm on Chris's shoulder for support, "Chris, my good friend," he started, utterly intoxicated, "in a place of good beer and liquor, you remain stiff as a board...? What brings...you (burp) to this...whatever...?"

Chris fanned away Roger's burp scent. The scent of Coors light and Cheetos was something you would want to smell. "I'm just not interested." He seized his Roger's fourth beer from his free hand. "Don't you want to be sober enough for the ball drop?"

"Fuck that!" Roger yelled directly in Christopher's ear. "I want beer and ass. If you don't get that, then you belong with the nerds...like those fantasy losers…!"

Chris grumbled. He did not want to be reminded of Lillian or of his social class in freshman year, "Never!" He gave his friend a two-faced grin.

His grin quickly developed into a frown when the gathering summoned two new guests, Lillian and Derrick. Lillian arrived dressed in a purple sweater covered by a black pea coat and a long dark flared denim skirt. She had her signature brown satchel carrying her latest material of text and brown boots. Derrick had on a long sleeve navy sweater and black corduroy pants under a cobalt blue bubble coat. The in-crowd gasped, cheerleaders snickered, Goths scowled and the Rejects got set to play. Tyler and Mick assembled up with the two other Rejects.

"Let's play," The slightly tipsy Tyler began. Out of the Rejects, Ty could hold down his alcohol the best. Tyler also was the biggest scummy douche-bag of the bunch. Chris did not like Tyler from the start and would not trust him with anything, especially his life. He strode over to the two victims. The murmur of the partiers silenced and the whole home hushed. "Well, hello my friends," He wrapped his arm around Lillian's waist.

Chris eyebrows narrowed. Something within him stirred more than his basic dislike for Tyler. He felt the desire to remove Tyler from Lillian forcefully; then again he had to preserve up his facade. He glimpsed over a Derrick, who was enraged.

"Get your slimy hands of Lillian!" The agitated Derrick yelled. Some of the party goers mimicked the way how Derrick said "slimy." He pushed Tyler's arm off of Lillian's waist.

Tyler positioned his arms up, "You don't need to get feisty, boy!" Tyler gave Derrick a piece offering, champagne tainted with something Chris could oddly detect. "We just want you to feel welcome." Derrick rejected the drink, so Ty offered Lillian it instead.

The something inside of Chris finally awakened. He rushed over to the three and smacked the tainted drink out of Tyler's hand. Lillian was amazed and nervous, Derrick was flabbergasted and the rest of the audience sighed in disbelief. Christopher Hale gave Tyler an ultimate death glare; a glare that did not look like Chris but the Earth Guardian of Light.

Tyler paced back. "What's your problema man?" Tyler was upset and petrified. "Dude!?"

Chris snapped out of his glare. He viewed at the crowd of people all gawking at him this time instead of Lillian and Derrick. _What I just did…,_ He thought

"It doesn't look like this party is 'right' for us." Lillian broke the awkward murmurs. She adjusted her satchel. She loathed being any close to "Kristen Krey related" as she did now. She wanted to escape the tense scene before anything else occurred, "Let's go, Derrick."

"Well fine!" Kristen Krey appeared from the crowd. "We wouldn't want a loser in our party. Have a lame night! And take you bitch with you!" The brunette pointed at Derrick.

Lillian left with Derrick at tow. The party gradually resumed with everyone but The Rejects dancing through the home. Roger walked over to Chris and Tyler, "Um, is you guys in a play or something." He said with a steady drunk speech.

Ty grunted. "I was going to have some fun with those losers, then dumb-dumb here ruined it!" He punched Chris on his arm. "I wanted to get my latest conquest!"

"Seriously, you don't get any conquest." Chris fired back, "And you won't if you plan to taint people's drink with E, Ty!"

Tyler raised his hands, guilty as charged. "Wait how did you…." He changed the subject, "The party was getting boring. I sorta wished we crashed this Kristen Krey party like we did during the summer; that was much more fun than this. And since the 'nerd entertainment' is done, we're out!"

Mick followed behind Tyler's orders. Chris did not like Mick too much, but not the same way he disliked Tyler. Mick had no backbone, no individuality and pretty much no brain. He mimicked Tyler and became his shadow. He listened to Ty's orders like they were life or death and Mick was always there when Tyler was around. "Yeah, this party blows," Mick co-signed with his leader.

_Follower,_ Chris believed. It was thirty minutes left until New Years and he wanted to be inside with everyone to watch the ball drop. It reminded him of the time when his family spend New Year's Eve at home. If Roger, his only true friend out of the Rejects, was sober probably they could manage to argue it out and stay until then. "Okay let's go, but we got to bring Roger home first. He's completely smashed."

"Let him sober up here," Mick said. Chris glared at him, "There's an awesome club not too far from here. I know the guy in the back could spot us some weed if he's in today."

"Roger is drunk and you want to get high!? He doesn't even live far from here!" Chris had enough of Mick and Tyler's antics for the night. He helped up Roger. "I'm dropping off him off."

"We'll save you some!" Tyler said to Chris with a menacing smirk.

* * *

Ms. Greene couldn't believe the condition of her son. She helped Chris to drag the young man to the couch. Roger mumbled something left and right, but the words were too inaudible for Chris to decipher. "Thanks," Roger's mother was grateful that Chris dropped him off. "I can't believe he came home drunk! When he gets up, I swear…!"

Chris sighed. He knew that Roger has a problem with liquor that stemmed down to Mr. Greene, Roger's father. He did not recall any party that the Reject attended that Roger was not either face-down drunk, passed out or blacked out. "I…you know he has been had several of before. This was kinda mild compared to the other times."

"I'm not happy with 'mild'! I want him to be sober! He's seventeen years old and he's drinking like a fifty-five year old that just lost his job. And neither you, nor anyone of your shit-scum friends are making it worse." Ms. Greene slammed open the front door, "Leave, just leave!"

Chris exited the property and made his way back home. He spent the rest of his time before the New Year walking peacefully back to the Lair residence. He shoved his cold hands in his warm wool jacket as he kicked some snow with his worn out Converse sneakers he worn a week ago. It felt good for Chris to be by himself during the Christmas break even though it was the result from the events that happened on the twenty second. The time helped him to reflect on something's that happened in the past as well as recently. Unknowingly, the same direction Chris was leaving from Lillian and Derrick were headed and ultimately Chris ran into the two. He was taken back by the two's appearance. "Um...," He mumbled.

"Are you following us!?" Derrick scrutinized the scruffy Chris from his old hat, grey wool jacket, black straight leg jeans and down to his muddy Converses. "Where are your other friends?"

Chris shrugged his shoulders. "They went out."

Derrick glared at Chris, "Well...you better not dare follow me and Lillian!"

Chris had to take a look at the zit-faced, fair-skinned, sky blue-eyed weirdo that was hounding him down like he was a criminal. Chris didn't need any more interrogation from this mystery guy that Chris already got from Ms. Greene and soon his father. "…I'm...just going home. Have a good night."

Lillian did not make eye contact with Chris. Immediately after Chris restarted his walk back home, he felt something uneasy. The same something inside him from before told Chris not to leave Lillian's side. "Chris?" Lillian questioned. "Is something wrong?"

"Well!?" Derrick yelled. "You were just leaving and now you're standing there like a moron!"

Chris turned to Lillian and Derrick. With superhuman speed and strength, Chris pulled the two far away from where they stood. "Something's here..." He whispered to the two.

Derrick pushed Chris off, "What the hell did you just do!?" When Derrick looked back to the spot they were standing, a deep hole was present. Derrick's eyes widen, "What's going on...?"

**"Wow your fast!" **An ominous voice appeared from the shadows. Heavy chains and deep breathing was heard from a distance. **"Hello guardian of earth," **A monster with green skin, large muscular built, yellow horns and long chain linked to a large iron sledgehammer appeared from the hole. **"I'm Kram, the destroyer."**

"Chris..." Lillian whispered. Chris held his hand out for Lillian to take hold, signaling his transformation. As the monster laughed for the preparation of the violent engagement, Lillian took a strong grasp of Chris hand changing him to the Earth Guardian of Light.


End file.
